07 May 2015
Claudio Marchisio says the Bianconeri must be ready to play on the front foot when they renew hostilities with Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu next Wednesday.
The midfielder believes a fearless approach is the only way to go if Juventus are to maintain the advantage they established on Tuesday night, claiming they need to avoid a repeat of the mistakes made against Monaco in the last round.
Speaking to Sky Sport Italia, Marchisio began: “We’ll be playing against a great team in a fine stadium, but we need to focus on ourselves. We mustn’t repeat the errors we made in Monte Carlo where we sat back and waited for the opposition. You can’t afford to do that against Real Madrid and we must play an open game.”
This campaign has seen the Bianconeri shatter all expectations by reaching the semi-final, an achievement the midfielder regards as all the more impressive given their difficult start to the tournament.
“It’s been a really important journey for us. We began this season’s Champions League with defeats against Olympiacos and Atletico and it wasn’t easy to get past the group stages, but we managed to with the belief of a group that has grown over time.”
Dining at Europe’s top table is something that Marchisio says needs to become a regular occurrence for a club like Juventus, regardless of the superior financial muscle enjoyed by other teams.
“Three years ago we weren’t in the Champions League, then we reached the quarter-finals and last year, despite going out at the group stage, we almost got to the Europa League final.
“This year we’ve proved ourselves and this needs to become the norm at Juventus, even if we know that teams with bigger budgets than ours struggle. Just look at how long Real had to wait for their tenth European Cup.”
